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Ministers slammed for posing with pokies

Lisa Martin

Politicians and newsreaders are being irresponsible by posing in front of poker machines during Prime Minister Julia Gillard's five-day visit to Rooty Hill in western Sydney, anti-gambling campaigners say.

The Nine Network broadcast its evening news bulletin with pokie lights flashing in the background at the Rooty Hill RSL on Monday.

Labor ministers Anthony Albanese and David Bradbury were interviewed by Sky News in front of gaming machines at the venue.

Monash University gambling expert Charles Livingstone has told AAP that shows "how far we have to go" before people understand gambling addictions.

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"Would either of those people conduct interviews or news programs in front of a bar full of people drinking too much or a room full of people smoking?" Dr Livingstone asked.

"It just demonstrates that politicians don't get it, these are dangerous goods.

"Seeing someone standing in front of a row of poker machines, (on television) in some cases could be enough to get people into difficulty," he said.

Poker machines should not be shown on television when children are watching, he said.

Rooty Hill, known to some as the "Vegas of the west", has more than 700 gaming machines.

Dr Livingstone said the fact the social fabric of western Sydney was wound up with poker machines was worrying.

"Those places make an awful lot of money out of people who can ill afford to lose it," he said.

The Rooty Hill RSL Club is in the electorate of Chifley held by Labor backbencher Ed Husic.

NSW Office of Liquor and Gambling Regulation statistics in 2010-11 show people in Chifley lost $113 million on 1532 poker machines.

Each machine netted $73,000, with the losses equating to $1058 per adult in an electorate where the average person's income is $423 per week.

Anti-gambling campaigner independent senator Nick Xenophon said senior politicians appeared to be "joined at the hip" to the poker machine industry.

"The irony is that people who are hurt most by poker machines are the battlers, the constituents who are supposed to be (Labor's) core concern," he said.

Comment has been sought from the Nine Network and Sky News.

A spokesman for Mr Albanese said it was not the minister's choice of location but he was in the broadcaster's hands.